Brands, organizations, personalities, and institutions look to utilize social media platforms ( Tiktok, Reddit, Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Youtube, and Snapchat) to drive leads and business through connections with different audiences. However, none of this works if your account doesn’t have the numbers with an organic following. Irrespective of whether you are looking to use social media for business or for personal recreational use, social media generally works with numbers. This is characterized by followers, engagements, shares, and reposts. If you are looking to get the best from social media, therefore, it is paramount to grow your account.
Growing a social media account is not all about having a huge number of followers but having an online community of ideal fans that actively engage with your content and share it with different networks. Statistics indicate that 4.62 billion people have social media accounts and on average every user engages with at least 6 social media platforms. The goal for any person using any social media platform is to engage with and have direct access to as much of this 4.62 billion as they possibly can.
So, below are the most essential ways of growing your social media account.
Contents
Select the Right Social Media Channels
Currently, we have a great number of social media channels and this makes the selection of the right one complex. The right social media channel is one where you can freely engage with your audience at any time. To find out your audience, gather information through interviews, use social listening tools and search niche groups on various platforms. Go ahead and read online reports that share platform user and usage trends for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and others.
For example, if you are looking to sell a product, opt for social media platforms that associate themselves with visual representations. If you are a traveler and you want people that share your interests to find and follow you online, opt for the social media channels that will give you a platform to showcase your travel escapades, these include Facebook and Instagram. If you are a blogger, poet, or writer, opt for social media channels that use more written literature than visual representations.
The trick lies in correlating what you are possibly selling or want to show, to the appropriate audience, and then zeroing down to the platform they use most.
Optimize your Social Media Profile
After knowing your audience, build your brand profiles to draw more attention from that audience. You can do this by uploading a professional photo, logo, or video for added appeal, or by using a similar image across your profiles for easy identification by the audience.
Research states that an average person uses social media for 2.5 hours daily. Your profile standing out means it will draw the attention of internet users better than a mediocre profile. Continually update your profile because people are generally drawn to new things. You can also do the following to improve your social media profile.
- Fill in every field of your profile
- Use appropriate and well-sized images
- Use consistent handles and avoid making unnecessary changes
- Untag yourself from inappropriate posts, tags, and mentions.
- Pin your best content to the top of your profile.
- Ensure your handle is discoverable in a search
Post at the Right Time
Depending on your industry and audience, look at your social media metrics on the platform to analyze the perfect time for posting. According to research, time is a crucial factor when it comes to growing your account or increasing interaction. For example, the first hour of your post is when you get 50% engagement so it is important to catch people’s attention as soon as you can.
According to a 2021 survey done by Hubspot of 300+ marketers, the best times to post on social media lie between 6 to 9 pm when the target audience is retired for the day and is lazily scrolling through social media. The best days to post are typically weekends, especially Saturdays.
You can also choose to follow the 10-4-1 Rule, a ratio that serves as a guideline for the right balance of content to publish on social media. It states that for every 15 of your social media updates, 10 should be pieces of other people’s content, and 4 should be your own content, characterized by photos, blogs, or articles. The last one should be a landing page.
Interact with your audience
You can’t expect to grow your audience if you don’t interact with the already existing audience. The intention here is to make your followers and audience aware that you are an active user so your posts, photos, blogs, and even articles can be shared more often in regards to returning the favor you do for them as well.
To engage and interact with your audience more, do any of the following:
- Post-engagement-worthy content (Twitter polls, relatable videos, and photos).
- Respond to comments on your post.
- Encourage reactions, comments, and shares.
- Use images on your posts.
- Comment on other people’s posts.
- Share other people’s posts.
- Go live and catch up.
Follow Relevant Profiles and Brands
Among the ultimate goals of social media, there’s the need to unite like-minded people. While it is good to grow the numbers on your profile and account, it is advisable to grow the numbers meaningfully with people that share interests and have a similar mindset to yours.
The social media algorithm lets you find these people easily but you can go the extra mile to pick out people you would want to engage with based on their content output. For example, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram allow groups to be created. You can also choose to join a group of people that share similar interests to yours and encourage them to follow or add you. By doing this, in the long run, you not only increase your numbers but also grow with people who share similar interests.
If you are a brand on social media looking to grow your account with people and profiles in the same business, follow and add accounts that sell what you sell, or groups that provide a service similar to yours.
Work with micro-influencers
Working with micro-influencers extends your reach, choose the right influencers to work with based on your audience, engagement, and content value to the target market. Hiring and working with micro-influencers, especially for commercial social media accounts has the following advantages.
- Increases brand awareness
- Builds credibility and trust.
- Enriches your content strategy.
- Long-term partnerships.
- Boost SEO, ROI.
- Drives purchase decisions.
- Increases sales.
- Cost-effective & time saving
Drive traffic from one platform to another
If you happen to notice positive feedback from Instagram followers, carry out cross-promotion and drive the traffic from Instagram to other platforms to boost their feedback too.
Remember growing your social media account, it’s about the quality of your audience and not the size of your audience.
Wrap-Up: There is no clear trick or path that will make you a social media sensation, however, if you follow the above-listed guide, you will surely grow your account. Always prioritize organic following to huge untamed followers.